Control server, and household electrical appliance control system

Abstract

To reduce the possibility that one household electrical appliance is double registered to an external server.SOLUTION: There is provided a control server in a household electrical appliance control system comprising a plurality of household electrical appliances, a control server which is connected with the plurality of household electrical appliances, an operation device which is connected with the control server and capable of operating the plurality of household electrical appliances, an external server which is connected with the control server, and an external operation device which is connected with the external server and capable of operating at least any of the plurality of household electrical appliances. The control server includes a control section which transmits to the external server an appliance list including information of the household electrical appliances which are selected from the plurality of household electrical appliances on a predetermined condition.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention relates to a control server and a home appliance control system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, in a home appliance control system that controls home appliances (e.g., air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.) connected to a network (e.g., the Internet, a regular telephone line, a mobile phone line, etc.), a technique for operating the home appliances using an app (application) installed on a terminal device (e.g., a smartphone, etc.) has been known.

[0003] There is also technology that uses a protocol converter to operate multiple home appliances from different manufacturers with a single app. Specifically, for example, most air conditioners sold in Japan support a general-purpose protocol called ECHONET Lite (registered trademark) in addition to each manufacturer's own protocol. Therefore, to operate multiple air conditioners from different manufacturers with a single app, you can simply use an app that supports ECHONET Lite. It is also possible to operate a single air conditioner with both a dedicated app and an ECHONET Lite-compatible app.

[0004] There is also a technology that allows home appliances to be operated using an external operating device (such as Amazon's Alexa (registered trademark) or Google's Assistant (registered trademark)) by registering the appliance on an external server (such as an Amazon (registered trademark) or Google's (registered trademark) server). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 3688464 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2023-136138 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, with the above-mentioned conventional technology, there is a possibility that a single air conditioner may be registered in duplicate on an external server, for example, from the server of the air conditioner manufacturer and from the server of a company that operates an ECHONET Lite-compatible app.

[0007] This can lead to the terminal device displaying more air conditioners than it actually has, which can be confusing for the user. Also, for one air conditioner, the terminal device may receive two notifications, which is not only confusing for the user but also makes it appear as if an error has occurred.

[0008] Therefore, the problem that the present invention aims to solve is to provide a control server and a home appliance control system that can reduce the possibility of a single home appliance being registered twice in an external server. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The control server of the embodiment is a control server in a home appliance control system that includes a plurality of home appliances, a control server connected to the plurality of home appliances, an operation device connected to the control server and capable of operating the plurality of home appliances, an external server connected to the control server, and an external operation device connected to the external server and capable of operating at least any of the plurality of home appliances, and includes a control unit that transmits to the external server a device list that includes information on home appliances selected from the plurality of home appliances based on predetermined conditions.

[0010] The control unit may also enter information about the home electric appliances, among the plurality of home electric appliances, that are connected to the control server without going through a protocol converter, into the device list.

[0011] The control unit may also enter information about the home electric appliance selected from the plurality of home electric appliances according to predetermined attribute information into the device list.

[0012] In addition, the control unit may estimate, for each of the multiple home appliances, the possibility that usage permission information will be sent to the external server from another server that manages the home appliance, and enter information about the home appliance selected based on the estimation result into the device list.

[0013] In addition, the control unit may detect, for each of the multiple home appliances, that usage permission information has been sent from another server that manages the home appliance to the external server, based on information received from the other server, and enter information about the home appliances that are not subject to the usage permission information into the device list.

[0014] In addition, after transmitting the device list to the external server, if the control unit detects, based on information received from the other server, that permission information for use of a home appliance included in the device list has been transmitted from the other server to the external server, the control unit may transmit a new device list to the external server excluding information about the home appliance.

[0015] In addition, the control unit may detect, for each of the multiple home appliances, based on information received from the external server, that usage permission information has been sent to the external server from another server that manages the home appliances, and may transmit to the external server the device list that does not include information about the home appliances to which the usage permission information was sent.

[0016] In addition, the home appliance control system of the embodiment is a home appliance control system comprising a plurality of home appliances, a control server connected to the plurality of home appliances, an operation device connected to the control server and capable of operating the plurality of home appliances, an external server connected to the control server, and an external operation device connected to the external server and capable of operating at least any of the plurality of home appliances, wherein the control server comprises a control unit that transmits to the external server a device list including information on the home appliances selected from the plurality of home appliances according to predetermined conditions.

[0017] According to the control server and home appliance control system described above, it is possible to reduce the possibility that one home appliance will be registered in duplicate on an external server. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of a server device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the home appliance control system of the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system according to the third embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system according to the fourth embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of a smartphone according to the fifth embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system according to the sixth embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of operations of each device in the home electric appliance control system of the sixth embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of operations of each device in the home electric appliance control system of the seventh embodiment. [Figure 10]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system according to the eighth embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of operations of each device in the home electric appliance control system of the eighth embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system according to the ninth embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional home appliance control system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Hereinafter, embodiments (first to ninth embodiments) of the control server and home appliance control system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following description will be given taking an air conditioner as an example of a home appliance. In addition, in the following, "connected" means "connected by wire or wirelessly so as to be able to communicate."

[0020] (Prior Art) First, to make it easier to understand this embodiment, the prior art will be explained again. As described above, to operate multiple air conditioners from different manufacturers with a single application, an application compatible with ECHONET Lite can be used. This allows multiple air conditioners to be operated with a single application (hereinafter also referred to as a general-purpose application). However, in this case, there is a restriction that only basic functions of the air conditioner (e.g., starting / stopping operation, changing operation mode, changing set temperature, changing set airflow, timer, etc.) can be operated.

[0021] On the other hand, if you use a dedicated app provided by each air conditioner manufacturer, you can perform not only basic functions but also detailed operations. Since users can use both general-purpose apps and dedicated apps, for example, if you want to perform detailed operations, you can use the dedicated app.

[0022] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional home appliance control system. A user owns an air conditioner from company A installed in the dining room and an air conditioner from company B installed in the living room of a house. Company B's server is connected to the air conditioner from company B and is also connected to the air conditioner from company A via a protocol converter. The user can then operate both the air conditioners from company A and company B by using a general-purpose app on their smartphone.

[0023] Furthermore, as mentioned above, by registering the air conditioner on an external server (such as an Amazon or Google server), the air conditioner can be controlled using an external control device (such as Amazon's Alexa or Google's Assistant).

[0024] A user has a user account corresponding to an external server (hereinafter also referred to as an external account) and a user account corresponding to Company B's server (hereinafter also referred to as a Company B account). The external account and Company B account are then linked. This operation of linking accounts is called "account linking."

[0025] Once account linking is complete, Company B's server sends information about the air conditioners owned by the account-linked user (e.g., device ID (identifier), function information, etc.) (device list: Company A's air conditioner information 1, Company B's air conditioner information 1) to the external server. Based on this information, the external operation device will operate the target air conditioner when it receives an operation, or will reject the operation if it is not possible to do so.

[0026] Furthermore, there are cases where information (device list: Company A Air Conditioner Information 2) about Company A's air conditioner is sent to an external server via Company A's server. In this case, two pieces of information about Company A's air conditioner (Company A Air Conditioner Information 1, Company A Air Conditioner Information 2) are registered in duplicate on the external server.

[0027] This can lead to the smartphone displaying more air conditioners than there actually are, which can be confusing for users. Also, for one air conditioner, the smartphone may receive two notifications when only one notification is actually required, which is not only confusing for users but also makes it appear as if an error has occurred.

[0028] Therefore, the following describes a technique that can reduce the possibility of a single home appliance (air conditioner) being registered in an external server in duplicate. Note that in the second and subsequent embodiments, descriptions of matters similar to those in the previous embodiments will be omitted as appropriate.

[0029] (First embodiment) 1 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of a server device 1 (corresponding to the company's server 1A in FIG. 2) according to the first embodiment. The server device 1 mainly includes a storage unit 11, a communication unit 12, a control unit 13, and the storage unit 11.

[0030] The storage unit 11 is a storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD). The storage unit 11 stores a database for managing the air conditioner. The database stores data items such as a user ID, a device ID, and each function.

[0031] The user ID is information for identifying the user. The device ID is information for identifying the air conditioner. Each function is a function of the air conditioner with the device ID.

[0032] The communication unit 12 is a communication interface for communicating with an air conditioner and a terminal device (smartphone 6 in FIG. 2).

[0033] The control unit 13 performs various controls. For example, the control unit 13 performs various controls on the air conditioner. Specifically, the control unit 13 performs various controls on the air conditioner in response to instructions from an app on the terminal device (smartphone 6 in FIG. 2). The control unit 13 also receives status information and the like from the air conditioner and sends it to the app on the terminal device (smartphone 6 in FIG. 2).

[0034] 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home appliance control system S according to the first embodiment. An air conditioner A2 (manufactured by the company) is connected to the company's server 1A (corresponding to the server device 1 in FIG. 1), and air conditioner B3 (manufactured by another company) and air conditioner C4 (manufactured by the company) are also connected via a protocol converter 5.

[0035] The smartphone 6 is connected to the company's server 1A and can operate the air conditioners A2, B3, and C4 using a general-purpose app installed on it. An external server 7 (such as an Amazon or Google server) is connected to the company's server 1A. An external operation device 8 (such as Amazon's Alexa or Google's Assistant) is connected to the external server 7 and can operate the air conditioner A2.

[0036] Then, the control unit 13 (FIG. 1) of the company's server 1A (hereinafter, the "control unit 13 of the company's server 1A" will be abbreviated as "the company's server 1A") sends a device list including information on air conditioners selected from air conditioners A2, B3, and C4 according to predetermined conditions to the external server 7. For example, the company's server 1A enters information on air conditioner A2, which is connected to the company's server 1A without going through the converter 5, out of air conditioners A2, B3, and C4, into the device list and sends the device list to the external server 7.

[0037] In other words, air conditioner B3 and air conditioner C4, which are connected to the company's server 1A via converter 5, are more likely to be registered (sent a device list) to the external server 7 via a route other than that from the company's server 1A to the external server 7 (for example, the route from Company A's server to the external server in Figure 13) than air conditioner A2, which is connected to the company's server 1A without via converter 5.

[0038] Therefore, the method of the first embodiment can reduce the possibility that one air conditioner will be registered in the external server 7 multiple times.

[0039] (Second embodiment) 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home appliance control system S according to the second embodiment. The company's server 1A enters information about an air conditioner selected from air conditioner A2, air conditioner B3, and air conditioner C4 according to predetermined attribute information into a device list, and transmits the device list to an external server 7. Examples of attribute information include the manufacturer name of the air conditioner, the model name of the air conditioner, and functions supported by the air conditioner.

[0040] 3, information about air conditioners A2 and C4 manufactured by the company is entered into a device list, and the device list is sent to the external server 7. This has the advantage over the first embodiment that when it is appropriate to include air conditioner C4 manufactured by the company and connected to the company's server 1A via converter 5 in the device list and send it to the external server 7, this can be realized.

[0041] (Third embodiment) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home appliance control system S according to a third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, air conditioner A2, air conditioner B3A, and air conditioner C4A are all connected to the manufacturer's server 1A via a Home Energy Management System (HEMS) 23. Note that the manufacturer of the HEMS 23 may not own any of its own air conditioners. When such a manufacturer of the HEMS 23 implements the present invention, the same effects as those of the second embodiment can be achieved by using, for example, a criterion of "whether the air conditioner is manufactured by a specific manufacturer" rather than "whether the air conditioner is manufactured by the manufacturer" when selecting air conditioners to include in the device list.

[0042] (Fourth embodiment) 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home electric appliance control system S according to the fourth embodiment. Another company's server 9 is connected to air conditioner B3 and transmits to the external server 7 a device list including information about air conditioner B3.

[0043] When transmitting the device list to the related server 20 or the external server 7, the company's server 1A selects air conditioners to include in the device list depending on whether there is a possibility that the other party will receive the device list via another route. In other words, for each of multiple air conditioners, the company's server 1A estimates the possibility that use permission information (a device list including information about that air conditioner) will be transmitted to the external server 7 from another server that manages the air conditioner (a server of the manufacturer of that air conditioner), and enters information about the air conditioner selected based on the estimation result into the device list and transmits that device list to the external server 7.

[0044] For example, assuming that there is no possibility that the related server 20 will receive the device list via another route, the company's server 1A will transmit to the related server 20 a device list including air conditioner A2 and air conditioner B3.

[0045] In addition, since the external server 7 may receive a device list including air conditioner B3 from another route, i.e., from another company's server 9, the company's server 1A sends to the external server 7 a device list that includes air conditioner A2 but does not include air conditioner B3.

[0046] This makes it possible to prevent the external server 7 from registering information about the air conditioner B3 in duplicate.

[0047] Although air conditioner B3 is connected to the company's server 1A via converter 5, being connected via converter 5 is not an essential condition.

[0048] (Fifth embodiment) Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example screen of a smartphone 6 in the fifth embodiment. In the fifth embodiment, the user selects a service to link for each air conditioner. Specifically, in the example of Fig. 6, the user can select whether or not to link the target air conditioner with each of external operation device A (e.g., Amazon's Alexa), external operation device B (e.g., Google's Assistant), and company home appliance link (assuming that the link is linked with the user account).

[0049] In conventional technology, for example, when permission is granted to link with a smart speaker, permission is granted uniformly to both Google and Amazon. In this embodiment, rather than granting permission uniformly, differentiation is made by allowing selection for each service. As a result, for example, if the user knows that air conditioner X has already linked with Google (a type of external server 7) via a route separate from the company's server 1A but is not linked with Amazon (a type of external server 7), the user can take fine-tuned measures, such as not linking air conditioner X with Google (external server 7) from the company's server 1A, but linking it with Amazon (external server 7).

[0050] (Sixth embodiment) 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home appliance control system S of a sixth embodiment. Based on information received from another server (P company server 21) that manages each of a plurality of air conditioners, the company's server 1A detects that use permission information (device list) has been sent from the other server (P company server 21) to the external server 7, enters information about an air conditioner (air conditioner A2) that is not subject to the use permission information (device list) into the device list, and sends the device list to the external server 7.

[0051] In the first to fourth embodiments, the contents of the device list to be sent from the company's server 1A to the external server 7 were determined based on the likelihood (i.e., probability) of information about each air conditioner being provided to the external server 7. In the sixth embodiment, by linking the company's server 1A and P company's server 21, the company's server 1A can more reliably avoid duplicate registration of air conditioner C4 on the external server 7 based on information about whether or not a device list including air conditioner C4 has been sent from P company's server 21 to the external server 7.

[0052] 8 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of operations of each device in the home appliance control system S of the sixth embodiment. In step S11, the user operates the smartphone 6 to link accounts between the P company server 21 and the external server 7, and the air conditioner C4 is linked to the external server 7.

[0053] Next, in step S12, the external server 7 requests the P company server 21 for a device list. Next, in step S13, the P company server 21 transmits a device list including the air conditioner C4 to the external server 7.

[0054] Next, in step S14, the user operates the smartphone 6 to link the accounts between the company's server 1A and the external server 7, and the air conditioner A2 is linked to the external server 7.

[0055] Next, in step S15, the external server 7 requests the device list from its own server 1A. Next, in step S16, the company's server 1A checks with the P company's server 21 whether the air conditioner C4 is currently linked to the external server 7 or not.

[0056] Next, in step S17, P company's server 21 transmits information to its own server 1A that air conditioner C4 is linked to the external server 7.

[0057] Next, in step S18, the company's server 1A transmits to the external server 7 a device list that includes air conditioner A2 but does not include air conditioner C4.

[0058] In this way, by having the company's own server 1A and the P company's server 21 cooperate with each other, it is possible to reliably prevent the air conditioner C4 from being registered in the external server 7 in duplicate.

[0059] (Seventh embodiment) The premise of the configuration of the seventh embodiment is the same as that of the sixth embodiment, as shown in Fig. 7. After transmitting a device list to the external server 7, if the company's server 1A detects, based on information received from the other server (P company's server 21), that use permission information (device list) has been transmitted to the external server 7 for an air conditioner included in the device list, the company's server 1A transmits a new device list to the external server 7 excluding the information about the air conditioner.

[0060] A specific description will be given with reference to Fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of operations of each device in the home appliance control system S of the seventh embodiment. In step S201, the user operates the smartphone 6 to perform account linking between the company's server 1A and the external server 7, and the air conditioner A2 is linked to the external server 7.

[0061] Next, in step S202, the external server 7 requests the device list from its own server 1A. Next, in step S203, the company's server 1A checks with the P company's server 21 whether the air conditioner C4 is currently linked to the external server 7 or not.

[0062] Next, in step S204, P company's server 21 transmits information to its own server 1A that air conditioner C4 is not linked to the external server 7.

[0063] Next, in step S205, the company's server 1A transmits to the external server 7 a device list including air conditioner A2 and air conditioner C4.

[0064] Next, in step S206, the user operates the smartphone 6 to link the accounts between the P company server 21 and the external server 7, and the air conditioner C4 is linked to the external server 7.

[0065] Next, in step S207, the external server 7 requests the P company server 21 for a device list. Next, in step S208, P company's server 21 transmits the device list including air conditioner C4 to the external server 7 via its own server 1A.

[0066] Next, in step S209, P company's server 21 reports (transmits information to) its own server 1A that air conditioner C4 has linked up with the external server 7.

[0067] Next, in step S210, the company's server 1A transmits a new device list that includes air conditioner A2 but does not include air conditioner C4 to the external server 7. Upon receiving the new device list, the external server 7 updates the device list from the company's server 1A.

[0068] In this way, by having the company's server 1A and P company's server 21 cooperate with each other, it is possible to reliably prevent duplicate registration of air conditioner C4 on the external server 7. In other words, even if air conditioner C4 is included in the device list initially sent from the company's server 1A to the external server 7, when the company's server 21 subsequently sends a device list including air conditioner C4 to the external server 7, the company's server 1A will then send a new device list that does not include air conditioner C4 to the external server 7. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent duplicate registration on the external server 7, regardless of the order in which different accounts are linked.

[0069] (Eighth embodiment) Fig. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home appliance control system S according to the eighth embodiment. In the example of Fig. 10, air conditioner B3A is not linked to the external server 7 via M company's server 22. In other words, M company's server 22 does not transmit a device list including air conditioner B3A to the external server 7.

[0070] Furthermore, air conditioner C4A is linked to external server 7 via company P's server 21. In other words, company P's server 21 transmits a device list including air conditioner C4A to external server 7.

[0071] Then, based on the information received from the external server 7, the company's server 1A detects that the corresponding server has sent usage permission information (device list) to the external server 7 for each of the multiple air conditioners, and sends to the external server 7 a device list that does not include information about the air conditioner for which usage permission information (device list) has been sent.

[0072] A specific description will be given with reference to Fig. 11. Fig. 11 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of operations of each device in the home appliance control system S of the eighth embodiment. In step S301, the user operates the smartphone 6 to perform account linking between the P company server 21 and the external server 7, and the air conditioner C4 is linked to the external server 7.

[0073] Next, in step S302, the external server 7 requests the P company server 21 for a device list. Next, in step S303, the P company server 21 checks with the external server 7 to see which air conditioner manufacturer is currently linked.

[0074] Next, in step S304, the external server 7 transmits to the P company's server 21 information that there are no air conditioner manufacturers with which the external server 7 is already linked.

[0075] Next, in step S305, the P company server 21 transmits a device list including the air conditioner C4 to the external server 7.

[0076] Next, in step S306, the user operates the smartphone 6 to link the accounts between the company's server 1A and the external server 7, and the air conditioner A2 is linked to the external server 7.

[0077] Next, in step S307, the external server 7 requests the device list from its own server 1A. Next, in step S308, the company's server 1A checks with the external server 7 the manufacturer of the air conditioner with which it is currently cooperating.

[0078] Next, in step S309, the external server 7 transmits to the P company server 21 information indicating that cooperation with the air conditioner C4 has been completed.

[0079] Next, in step S310, the company's server 1A transmits to the external server 7 a device list that includes air conditioner A2 and air conditioner B3 but does not include air conditioner C4.

[0080] In this way, the company's server 1A obtains information on linked air conditioners from the external server 7, thereby reliably preventing air conditioner C4 from being registered in the external server 7 in duplicate.

[0081] (Ninth embodiment) FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the configuration of a home appliance control system S of a ninth embodiment. In the ninth embodiment, the function of the converter 5 in the eighth embodiment is performed by a server of the air conditioner manufacturer. In other words, air conditioner B3 is connected to the manufacturer's server 1A via another company's server 9 that performs the function of the converter 5. Even in this case, as in the eighth embodiment, it is possible to reduce the possibility that one air conditioner will be registered in the external server 7 in duplicate.

[0082] The program executed by the server device 1 (the company's server 1A) in the above embodiment may be provided by being recorded in an installable or executable file format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), a USB memory, an SD card, etc. Alternatively, the program may be provided by being pre-installed in a ROM or the like.

[0083] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be embodied in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents as defined in the claims.

[0084] For example, in the above embodiment, an air conditioner is used as an example of a home appliance, but the present invention can also be applied to home appliances other than air conditioners (for example, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, etc.). [Explanation of symbols]

[0085] 1...server device, 1A...company's server, 2...air conditioner A, 3...air conditioner B, 4...air conditioner C, 5...converter, 6...smartphone, 7...external server, 8...external operation device, 9...other company's server, 11...storage unit, 12...communication unit, 13...control unit, 20...related server, 21...P company's server, 22...M company's server, S...home appliance control system

Claims

1. a control server in a home appliance control system including a plurality of home appliances, a control server connected to the plurality of home appliances, an operation device connected to the control server and capable of operating the plurality of home appliances, an external server connected to the control server, and an external operation device connected to the external server and capable of operating at least one of the plurality of home appliances, a control server including a control unit configured to transmit to the external server a device list including information on home appliances selected from the plurality of home appliances according to predetermined conditions;

2. The control server according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit enters information about a home electric appliance, among the plurality of home electric appliances, that is connected to the control server without going through a protocol converter, into the device list.

3. The control server according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit enters information about the home electric appliance selected from the plurality of home electric appliances according to predetermined attribute information into the device list.

4. The control server according to claim 1, wherein the control unit estimates, for each of the plurality of home appliances, the possibility that usage permission information will be sent to the external server from another server that manages the home appliance, and enters information of the home appliance selected based on the estimation result into the device list.

5. The control server of claim 1, wherein the control unit detects, for each of the plurality of home appliances, that usage permission information has been sent from another server that manages the home appliance to the external server based on information received from the other server that manages the home appliance, and enters information about the home appliances that are not subject to the usage permission information into the device list.

6. 6. The control server according to claim 5, wherein, after transmitting the device list to the external server, if the control unit detects, based on information received from the other server, that permission information has been sent from the other server to the external server for a home appliance included in the device list, the control unit transmits a new device list to the external server excluding information about the home appliance.

7. The control server of claim 1, wherein the control unit detects, for each of the plurality of home appliances, that usage permission information has been sent to the external server from another server that manages the home appliances based on information received from the external server, and sends the device list to the external server, which does not include information about the home appliances to which the usage permission information was sent.

8. A home appliance control system including a plurality of home appliances, a control server connected to the plurality of home appliances, an operation device connected to the control server and capable of operating the plurality of home appliances, an external server connected to the control server, and an external operation device connected to the external server and capable of operating at least any of the plurality of home appliances, The control server includes a control unit that transmits to the external server a device list including information on home appliances selected from the plurality of home appliances according to predetermined conditions.

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